Comments on: Built to Regress to the Meanhttp://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/
Economics of organizations, strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, and moreMon, 02 Mar 2015 17:33:58 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Gary Petershttp://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/#comment-11732
Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:37:24 +0000http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/#comment-11732Steve nailed my thoughts pretty well. When I sent this article to Peter, I sheepishly admitted that I enjoyed reading many popular business books; not for their profound “insights” but for the colorful “experiences” they describe. I think the article could also be used at the undergraduate level to help students question what they are being exposed to by their professors (me included) or by potential employers.
]]>By: Peter Kleinhttp://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/#comment-11711
Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:20:06 +0000http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/#comment-11711Steve, you are surely right. The attitude you describe in your second paragraph applies to many academics as well. Most us are short on management experience, after all.
]]>By: spostrelhttp://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/#comment-11710
Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:16:02 +0000http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/01/25/built-to-regress-to-the-mean/#comment-11710It actually sounds like the CFO article might be good for MBA students to read, if not the book. A little immunization.

To be fair to the readers of popular management books, I think many of them really aren’t drinking the Kool-Aid but are sort of foraging for ideas they may find useful. They may get value from a book if it inspires them, stimulates a new idea or even reminds them of an old one. The overall rigor of the book’s message is thus often of secondary importance.

This attitude frustrates us academics, because we are intensely interested in valid intellectual frameworks and have little use for helpful metaphors, bits of persuasive rhetoric, clever rules of thumb, etc., especially if their domain of usefulness can’t be pinned down accurately. But the readers of these books have different priorities.